


reflected mirrors

by Anonymous



Series: mcyt <3 [4]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Background Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch, M/M, POV Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Paradise Found
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27503422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: One number is supposed to tell you who you're destined to spend the rest of your life with. Just one number.Dream, like most people, doesn't talk about the numbers on his upper arm.Usually.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: mcyt <3 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998544
Comments: 13
Kudos: 367
Collections: Anonymous





	reflected mirrors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreeaaam](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Dreeaaam).



> written as a (really late!) birthday gift for a friend<3

**899.**

That's the number that Clay has on his upper arm, printed neatly in plain sight. In his day-to-day life, he does his best to cover it up. The number can be anywhere on the body, and Clay's soulmate number decided to print itself right in plain sight. He can cover it up with long sleeves or with waterproof makeup, but...

Well, he doesn't spend much time in reality anymore.

-

Clay presses the button to start up the simulation. Making sure he's ready, he pats down his clothes. Although he knows that the world of virtual reality will make it so that he could change his appearance to absolutely anything, he can't help but feel as if he needs to cover it up.

Soulmate numbers are special. They're sacred, almost, and to show them out and in the open... well, it's not blasphemous, but it's certainly not a common thing to do.

Clay steps into the portal.

-

As his body digitizes into the world, he peers around. It's only the launching area, so he makes sure he has his default skin on before he presses Start giddily.

His friends were asking for him to get on, and he can't wait to greet them all. The loading screen takes some time, so he checks out his surroundings while letting his thoughts drift off.

BadBoyHalo, shortened to Bad, uses the word muffins way too much. He's kind, sweet, and precious, and if he wasn't taken by Skeppy... well, never mind.

Speaking of Skeppy, he's that hyperactive kid that yells a lot. He's funny and charming, and he can definitely see how the two ended up together.

Then there's his close friend, Sapnap, who, despite being brash, is also kind and funny. He can make Clay's day instantly better just by being himself.

And of course, there's Clay's best friend, GeorgeNotFound, or just George. He's been one of his biggest supporters for forever. It doesn't help that he kind of has a crush on him, but who wouldn't? George is nice and amazing and wonderful, and--- well--

Clay -- now Dream -- feels himself being sucked into the virtual world he had selected, his own world for just him and his friends.

-

"Dream, you're here!" 

Before Dream can even see anything, he can hear Sapnap yelling, practically in his ear.

"Yeah... I noticed," Dream laughs. As his vision clears, he can see the bright green of the grass before him. He looks up to see Sapnap in front of him giving him a large grin before giving him a hug. 

"How did you manage to be at right where I'd spawn?" Dream teases.

"Duh," Sapnap quips back. "I saw you off last night, so I knew you'd be here when we told you to get on."

Dream just rolls his eyes and looks around. His house is nearby, so he sprints towards it. "Where is everyone?"

The mics attached to each of them let people talk to each other despite being miles away from each other in the virtual world, and makes it even easier because they have a team channel where they can talk to each other even if they're all in different worlds.

"I'm mining in the nether! With Skeppy!" Bad yells back. "Sorry, I'd go back, but I don't know where we are."

"Yeah," Skeppy adds loudly. " _Mining_. That's all we're doing. _Mining_ ," he adds an emphasis on the word and Dream can hear Bad shove him as they get into another scuffle.

"Stop flirting in public chat and get a room!" George's voice rings clearly. Despite that, the two continue arguing and Geroge lets out a ragged sigh.

"George!"

"Hey, Dream!" He can't see George, but Dream can still hear the smile that's growing on George's face. 

"Where are you?"

"Where are _you?"_

"Why do you wanna know?"

Sapnap adds, "He wants to give you a _kiss!"_

"Shut it, Sapnap," Dream throws back at him. "I'm on my way back to the community house, George, _dear_."

Dream can practically hear George roll his eyes. "Well luck would have it, I'm here, too."

In the background, Bad and Skeppy have been arguing through hisses and whispers, but they've grown in volume and they're almost shouting.

"I can't believe you two are soulmates," Sapnap bemoans. "You two argue like you're going to divorce, and you're not even married."

Dream enters his house, and sure enough, George is there, fixing up the community chests. At seeing him, George gives him a fist bump and the two sit together as they listen to the ensuing conversation.

"Shhhh," Bad says lowly. "You know the story. Plus, that's just our relationship, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I've heard the story a billion times. Skeppy decided that the number on his wrist was funny and he made it into a meme and Bad was jealous and frustrated and confused and then you two figured it out because Skeppy was being overly obvious trying to find his soulmate and Bad finally realized that Skeppy was his soulmate and wasn't trying to tease him, blah, blah, _blergh_ ," Sapnap rambles, pretending to gag but just starts to burst into laughter.

"Yeah, that's the gist, single boy!" Skeppy yells out.

"Shut up, Skeppy!" 

George rolls his eyes. Dream just giggles a little, not adding to the conversation.

Suddenly, George gets an idea and gets up. Dream just watches him slowly as George fumbles though his ender chest. Finally, he finds something and grabs it. Before Dream can see it, he finds the mystery object thrown into his lap by George.

"A book and quill?" Dream whispers.

George nods. "Read it."

Dream opens it to see a message on the first page.

> _> they're loud lmao_  
>  _> wanna join a private voice channel?_  
>  _> it'd be nice to talk without yelling in the background, haha_  
>  _> i'll call you on your personal VC?_

Dream looks up at George, who's looking down at him expectantly. Then he nods.

-

"Dream!" George hums gleefully when he joins the voice channel, and he can't help but smile at his friend's antics.

"George," Dream chuckles lowly. "How've you been?"

George shrugs. "Same old, same old. What about you?"

"Nothing new, really. Mostly been training for the tournament coming up, but even then, I've mostly been relaxing.

"That's good," George thinks to himself. "You deserve to relax."

"You too, you know."

There's a bit of silence. Dream doesn't even want to know what chaos is happening in the main voice channel at the moment.

"Hey, have you found your soulmate?

Dream looks up at the sudden question.

"Huh?"

"Have you found your--"

"I heard you the first time, George. I just... it was quite out of nowhere."

George laughs a little. "I guess. I just figured I'd ask. It was on my mind, so..."

"Well, no, I haven't found mine yet."

George nods. "Yeah, it's gotta be hard. There's so many people."

Dream looks away. "Have you?"

"Me? No... I wish. There's this one superstition, that the harder it is to see your own mark on your own body, the harder it'll be to find your soulmate."

"Oh?" Dream thinks about his mark, which is pretty easy to find. "That's... interesting. Are you saying your mark is hard to find?"

"Ah, well, it's hard to see," George admits. "I have to really stretch my neck over to see the numbers on my stomach."

Dream takes this in slowly, and without thinking -- "What's your number?"

George looks at him blankly.

Oh.

You don't ask people for their number unless you're interested and trying to see if your marks match. Even then, it's not really something you ask, it's something that people share without having to ask. It's during moments of trust that people open up and share their marks, wondering if they'll be a match. Not something that best friends ask each other on a whim as if it's as simple as asking how the weather is. It's not that, so then why did Dream ask that of him? Why would he --

"668."

... Oh.

Dream bites his lip. Of course, it wouldn't be him. Why would it be? Why'd he let himself get his hopes up if he knew that his heart would shatter onto the floor, breaking into a million pieces?

"I see," Dream says flatly. "That's an interesting number. Good luck with that."

George nods.

"Hey, I'm going to check on the others real quick. Stay here, alright?"

He leaves without letting George respond verbally. He quickly makes his way out of the community house, before George can find out that he's started to cry.

As he joins the general chat again, he notices that it's mostly quiet, other than the occasional murmuring from Skeppy and the consistent humming from Bad.

... Stupid! What was he thinking? Of course, they wouldn't be soulmates. They're just friends. George is probably thinking that he's hitting on him now, and, George is probably straight, and he's probably disgusted. He's probably trying to figure out how to get out of the friend group because he doesn't want to be friends with someone like him.

Dream closes his eyes and lets himself wander back to the previous conversation.

-

_"Ah, well, it's hard to see," George admits. "I have to really stretch my neck over to see the numbers on my stomach."_

_..._

_Oh._

-

George has already left the world, so Dream bids a quick farewell to Bad and Skeppy before dropping the voice call and quickly making his way out of the virtual reality.

He stumbles into his bedroom again, turning towards his phone to open Discord. He presses on George's DMs and prays that he gets a response.

-

_call me please pelase please right now_

-

"What is it?" George asks tiredly when he picks up the call.

"My number is 899."

"Wh..." George almost seems to be knocked out of being sleepy, when he starts demanding, "Dream, you can't just tell people that. Also, why are you telling me that? You don't have to tell me because I told you, you know?"

Clay laughs. He had gone through the realization about two minutes late, all within a second. George's brain probably doesn't work like that.

"Do me a favor, can you write?"

"Yeah, uh..." There's a few scuffles. "Alright. I have a pen and a paper."

"Write down my number."

George doesn't respond, but Clay can hear the pencil move across paper slowly, almost hesitantly.

"Okay..."

"Now turn the paper so the numbers are upside down."

George lets out a sigh. "Really, Dream, this is a prank or something, isn't it? You're really out here wasting my time, waking me up in the middle of..."

George trails off, and Clay's heart races. Has he figured it out? Does he know? Does that... does that mean...

"Mine is 899... yours is 668... but maybe..."

"Maybe?"

"Maybe because I was looking at it like this... my number is actually 668... as well?"

"Booyah," Dream whispers. 

"Oh my god." George seems taken aback. "So, wait, does that mean that, we're probably soulmates?"

"We're soulmates, George. No if, ands, ors, or buts. This is it, George," Clay whispers. "Yours, mine, we are connected."

"Dream... I never thought, I never thought this would happen, I---"

"Clay." His grin widens. "Call me Clay."

"I love you... Clay."

And Clay feels his heart swell up in love, pride, and adoration.

"I love you too, George."

**Author's Note:**

> want to talk to me? twitter: @blueboyhalo


End file.
